Various shades exist in the prior art for covering lamps and lights. Of the decorative shades known, these devices operate on the principle that the means for providing a decorative appearance must reside on an outer surface of the shade itself. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,415 discloses a pleated outer cover, U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,601 discloses a shade having an outer cover of spaced pivoting light deflectors and U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,896 discloses a design placed on the surface of a panel that comprises the lamp shade.
A need exists to provide what appears to be a lamp shade with a standard covering, decorative or otherwise, but which also provides decorative features when light projects from a back surface to a front surface of the shade. In this regard, some of the most pleasing decorative features desired for shade covers comprise articles of nature such as botanicals. This presents a problem however. Existing shades cannot provide decorative features in combination with existing shade materials wherein the three dimensional botanical decorative features are selectively visible through the shade dependent on whether the light source is illuminated.
The invention disclosed herein solves these problems and deficiencies in the prior art by providing a novel shade construction and operation. As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the shade of the present invention overcomes the shortcomings of those previously proposed.